Conventionally, a disk recorder for recording image data on a disk medium such as an optical disk or the like is known (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 8-153040 and 2003-317389 (US Publication Number: US-2003-0227847)). An apparatus of this type records/plays back data using management information that manages recorded data on a disk. Normally, the apparatus stores management information, which is read out from a disk upon loading that disk, in a main body memory, updates the management information on the memory in correspondence with the recording/playback operation, and writes back the updated management information on the disk upon unloading the disk.
In recent years, a disk video camera which records/plays back sensed image data on/from a disk medium has appeared.
The aforementioned disk video camera normally must write date information and the like on a disk in addition to the management information upon unloading the disk. Upon loading the disk, the disk video camera must execute laser calibration of an optical pickup, free space detection, and the like in addition to the read processing of the management information.
Since these operations take as long as several ten seconds, if the user inadvertently unloads the disk or wants to record immediately after unloading, a considerable time is required until the disk video camera becomes ready to record, thus missing an important recording chance.